complaints leaflet - Newcastle City Council

Who can make a
complaint
You can ask us to look into your complaint if you are:
•
•
the person who gets the service (the service user);
someone acting on behalf of the service user with their
permission; or,
• the person most closely related to a service user who is acting on
their behalf, because they are not able to make their own
decisions.
If you do not have the service user’s permission, we may still be able
to look into your complaint under our corporate complaints system. If
you would like information on our corporate complaints system,
please ask for a copy of the leaflet ‘“If you have a complaint’”.
What can I complain about
You can complain about:
•
receiving a poor-quality service, including services we have
arranged for you but that are delivered by an independent care
provider;
• our staff’s attitude or behaviour;
•
•
your assessment, care plan, or review of your services;
decisions you do not agree with, such as changes to the amount of
care you receive;
• the effect of our policies on you and your services, such as our
eligibility criteria (conditions); and,
• the charge you pay for your service and how we have assessed it. 3
What happens when I make
a complaint
When you contact us with your complaint, we will see if we can sort out
the problem without you needing to do anything else.
If this is not possible, we will write down your complaint and register it
on our computer.
We will talk to you about:
what has happened;
what you think should be done to put things right;
how long it is likely to take to examine look at your complaint; and.
• who will reply to you.
This is known as your complaint plan. You will normally get your
complaint plan within two to five days of contacting us, depending on
how complicated your complaint is.
We try to sort out most complaints within two to four weeks of sending
you the complaint plan, unless we have agreed a longer time with you.
You will receive a reply from the manager named in your plan. They will
explain what they have found out and what they will do to put things
right. Sometimes they may not agree with all of your complaints and
they will explain why.
If your complaint is about an independent care provider, and you have
not been able to sort out your problems with them yourself, we will look
at what they have done and reply direct to you.
If your complaint also involves a service provided by the NHS, such as
a hospital, we will contact them, with your permission, and agree who
will reply to you. We will let you know who will send you a reply to all
your complaints. You will not have to wait for separate replies from
each organisation.
Our aim is to put things right if they have gone wrong. If we can, we
will put things back to the way they were before the service went
wrong. We will make sure that the service is provided in the way it
should be.
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